Seat Leon Cupra: Classic Cars

In the early 2000s, the Leon changed to the Cupra. The first modern Spanish sports car with its Audi S3 engine developed up to 225 hp (165 kW) and laid the foundation for the current success of the young brand. Classic Cars looks through the rearview mirror of the fierce Spaniard.

Seti’s Cupra subsidiary is now one of the hottest newcomers to the car industry with models like the Leon and Formentor and is launching one popular everyday sports car after another. But this was not always the case: in the early 2000s, the first models with the shortened Cup Racing suffix (Cupra) were better known as. At the VW Group, the popular Phaeton and Touareg models as well as the Lamborghini and Bugatti takeovers were among the big headlines, while on the other side of the price segment, the poor record of the VW Lupo 3L sparked public interest. Meanwhile, VW had hired designer Giorgetto Giugiaro for the first modern Skoda Octavia. However, the management team found the finished design to be “too Italian” and quickly passed it on to Kiti, where the Toledo II was based on. According to Andreas Moeller’s soccer quote: “Milan or Madrid, the main thing is Italy!” Also interesting: Tips for our products on Amazon

Video of Leslie & Cars on Cupra Tavascan (2024):

Classic Cars: Seat Leon Cupra

This was also quite fitting in terms of automotive history, as Seat had manufactured Fiat models under license for decades. The first seat Leon grew from Toledo number two. Another advantage of the steep climb from the cooperative shelf: the range of engines, from the recreational diesel 68 HP (50 kW) to the aggressive 225 HP (165 kW). The first exclamation point was made in 2000 with the Cupra 2.8 V6 with 204 hp (150 kW) and all-wheel drive, which technically matched the Golf VR6. A year and a half later, the Cupra name was given again to this engine – it reappeared as the Cupra R in conjunction with the 1.8 liter turbo from the Audi S3 and TT.

Same performance and less weight than Audi S3

Despite the big horsepower and Audi genes, the R relied on reduced equipment and even did without all-wheel drive, which saved almost 100 kg in weight compared to the S3 and made it very light in the curves. The raw numbers even made him the fastest Kit of all time in 2003: the Spaniard needed 6.9 seconds for a normal run, and an official top speed of 242 km/h was also possible. Customers had to accept the fact that it was not very possible under 3000 revolutions and that at least 8.9 liters of Super Plus flowed through the combustion chambers for every 100 kilometers at a starting price of only 25,000 euros.

Seat Leon Cupra and name confusion

What may have put potential customers off is the lack of prestige and the name change, which could have made Seat’s sales chiefs turn red like the Cupra R shown here – instead the flagship was first called Top Sport and then two years later Formula Racing (FR). The separation of Cupra as a separate brand seems like a blessing today. We can only hope that Seat is not completely sedated by its own daughter and will stop production – then the chaos can start again.

Tim Neumann

Our conclusion

Anyone looking for an attractive sports car apart from the Golf GTI and Co. from an era when cars were still built with power and do not have very sensitive electronic devices he can find what he is looking for in the Seat Leon Cupra. Especially as a front-wheel drive Cupra R, it stands out from the S3 in terms of technology and thus sets its own accent. And because Cupra is becoming more and more popular as a brand, the early models clearly have the potential to increase in value.